DIY Cupcake Tower

We love to celebrate and entertain. And sometimes, what we need aren't just available or is just too expensive. So then came DIY. 

Here's a simple, fast, from scratch, fully-illustrated HOW TO:

(All units are in inches and dimensions of round materials are diameters)

Materials:

     Styro blocks (available in educational supplies shop or baking materials; 

                 I used 1 pc 12x2 as base, and 3 pcs each of 6x2, 5x2 3x2)

                 *I used the 3x2 blocks to hold Tinkerbell. You don't need it if you need the tower only. 

                 You can also use soup cans or juice cans (not empty!) so it's more stable, but not disposable.

     Cake boards (Here, I used 16, 12 and 9 inch diameters)

     Gift wrap or cardstock to cover the center columns

     Ribbon or Lace

     Decorative materials

     Pencils

     Glue gun and sticks

     Cutter

     Scissors

     Ruler, Preferably a triangle

     Optional: Compass

In this tutorial, I am making a 3-tier tower for a Tinkerbell-themed, 24-pc-cupcake set so I choose the sizes above, color green for my wrap and ribbons, and some foam leaves and bugs for my decor.

I based my methods from annies-eats.com and did a few tweaks in my favor.

Let's begin.

1. THE WRAP. Prepare the wrap or cardstock to cover the columns. Spread it out and tape the edges to the table if you want. Here, I used a bright green cardstock. Measure the dimensions of your columns (the 3 styro blocks of the same size). Here's a handy formula for the circumference: C = diameter x 3.14. 

So, following the formula, for my 3 pcs of 6x2, my circumference would be 3.14 x 6 = 18.84. I add a little so the wrap would overlap so I went for 19.5. My height will be 3 pcs (of blocks) times 2 inches each, that's 6. So I measured 19.5 x 6 on my cardstock. 

I prefer using a triangle in all my measurements. Aside from being an engineer by profession, I'd like to make sure that I'm making straight rectangles and not parallelograms since I could make sure of 90 degress. 

And I use a sharp cutter so I can cut straight and in one swish. Careful though, it would take time to master this skill. Just push on tight to your ruler with your non-dominant hand, spreading out your fingers like spider (to distribute force), so it does not slide as you move along. Use a cutting board underneath or an old folder or a pile of scrap paper so you don't wound your table.

Use a scissor if you are most comfortable with it.

Cut your wraps for all columns.

Try wrapping it around your blocks to check if you did it right. Trim if you need to. (I needed to.)

Set aside.

2. THE BOARDS. Find the center of both sides, for the board of the 3rd and 2nd level. Mark only the underside of your topmost level, of course. If you don't care much or is good at centering just by the eye, go ahead and mark it. Mark the location where the styro blocks must be glued. There's a technical way to do this, though. I just had to make sure my tower is not lopsided and balanced. Find the how-to at the bottom of this post.

Mark all the boards.

3. STICK 'EM UP. Plug the gun and let it heat up. Mount the 3 pieces of the same-diameter styro blocks. I used 3 blocks to make a height of 6 inches, to provide room for frostings. Glue them together. Using a spiral pattern for the glue makes it easier as you won't have to lift the gun as you go.

Do the same for all columns.

4. WRAP IT UP. Temporarily secure the wrap to the column, with a little distance so you could flip it a bit and put glue. I do this so  my wrap won't slant and spiral down the column. Glue down the first edge, using a thin line (so it won't bulge the paper) . Remove the little tapes and finish off the other edge. I roll my column down the table since this glue can be really hot.

Do so with the other columns.

5. BUILD. Glue the wrapped columns to the boards, starting with the bottom, going up. Make sure to keep the column's wrap seam aligned so you could hide it to the back of the tower.

So the tower has been built.

6. DOLL UP. Take the ribbon or lace for the board edges. Starting with the same back side where you hide the seams, apply a dot of glue to the board and press in the ribbon, making sure to align the top of the ribbon to the top of the board edge. You don't have to apply glue all the way, half-inch intervals would do fine. I mounted the tower on a cake turner so I can easily turn as I go. 

I found it useful to go counterclockwise, use my left hand to push down the ribbon. On my right hand: my forefinger on the trigger of the gun, my thumb and middle finger holding the rest of the ribbon lightly.

Do the rest of the boards.

And tada!

7. DOLL IT UP MORE. Apply embelishments and decor, using the same glue so it does not easily fall off. When applying, remember to balance them out and keep in mind the front area of your tower.

So here's my finished product:

And you find my cupcake set-up here.

Hope you're doing mighty fine as well! :)

**PS - How to Find the Center of Circles - The Technical Way

(whether you know or not the diameter of your circle)

1. Here's your circle:

2. Using your compass, pin it to one edge of the circle and open it up so the pencil side is father away from (where you think it is) the center. Draw an arc.

3. Without adjusting your compass, park your compass pin in the opposite side and draw another arc. You will now see an eye.

4. Still without adjusting your compass, park your pin on the top and bottom parts. Here, you will make two eyes which are perpendicular.

5. Draw a line across each eye, basing on the intersection points of the arcs.

6. The crosshair in the middle is your center.

7. From that center, I measured the radius of my cake board and drew a large circle to mark where my styro blocks should be.

** And if it helps, I used an engineer's/architect's/draftsman's compass (whatever it is called) to make huge circles since they bend at both ends. Regular compasses just cant reach the end. 

If you only have a regular compass, use a ruler and a pencil to mark the perimeter instead, using it like a compass.

Good luck! :)